Between Order and Chaos
by XanatosGambit86
Summary: One faithful day, a youth known as Kirito awakes into unknown place called White World. A world where nothing begins and nothing ends. It is within this world that Kirito meets a man named Heathcliff. Through this man Kirito finds his reason for being there. For you see, Kirito has been given the task of creating a new world. How though? He can't even remember who he is.
1. prologue

((Something I've had stuck in my mind for a long time now. Its been stuck in my head ever since I've played and beaten some of the games from the the mega ten series and watched sword art online. I'm actually surprised nobody has actually attempted a crossover like this yet seeing as how compatible both series mythos are. Here it is the Between Order and Chaos!))

A dark haired young man wearing a dark trench coat woke up on a golden chair. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a world with nothing but white all around. It was silent and calm. There was nothing out there It devoid of any life or signs of life. He didn't know how he ended up there. In fact he couldn't remember who he was at this very moment.

"Hello! Is anybody there." The young teen called out. "Where am I. Well..." His voice trailed off. "I guess a better question would be who am I."

"Don't you remember Kirito"

The young teen who was apparently called Kirito turned around. He was greeted by the sight of a man with silver hair and white medieval armor. He was carrying a tower shaped shield and a heavy sword was sheathed and around his back.

"Is that my name..." Kirito asked the man in the white coat.

"That depends. How does that name feel?" The man in heavy medieval style white armor responded. Kirito paused and frowned. He knew that it was a name he used. But he knew it wasn't his true name either.

"Its a nice name but I feel like that isn't my name. Speaking of names who are you?"

"Heathcliff."

"That name. It sounds familiar. But part of me can tell that isn't your true name either."

"Your right." Heathcliff responded. He gave another cryptic smile . "You and I have known each other for a while."

"Were we friends?"

"Something like that." Heathcliff responded. "I am your guide for the duration of your stay here. As for your identity; That is something you'll find out do soon."

"Soon? Why don't you tell me now?" Kirito replied confusedly. "Besides, where exactly am I?"

"This is a place where worlds are born and reborn. A place where anything is possible so long as one has the will. A place where worlds can created."

"A place to create worlds?" Kirito repeated confusedly

Heathcliff smiled his cryptic smile. Kirito hated cryptic smiles. He didn't understand why though. Nonetheless, Heathcliff is the only one to provide him with answers. Therefore, he let Heathcliff continue his explanation without interruption.

"Anybody with the potential can come here to create a new world. People with the desire and potential normally come here to create their own vision of an ideal world." Heathcliff explained. Kirito frowned, mulling that titbit of information.

"Is that why I'm here. To create a new world?"

"You do have the desire and the will. Your being here is evidence of that. Unfortunately, whenever someone comes into this world their memories of their life outside of this world are erased. Its just the nature of this world. Nothing can be done about it I'm afraid." A large grey mirror materialized in a space right above Heathcliff's head. Kirito looked curiously at it and its reflection of him. "It is fortunate that we have this mirror. This mirror is a window into your life before you came here. Your past and your present. Looking into this mirror will allow you to understand what kind of world you want to create. Now lets take a look an-" He went silent quickly and gave Kirito a puzzled look. Two more large mirrors materialized around Heathcliff. One was black and the other was white. Both reflected a very different image of the dark haired young man. In the black mirror, he is shirtless, very lean, yet muscular man with glowing tattoos. He was wearing dark pants and a sword and its sheath strap around his body. His face wearing a blood thirsty smile.

In the white mirror, he was wearing a white coat instead of a black one. There was a red cross marked on the back of his white coat and the expression this Kirito was completely opposite of the one the black coat one had. It was stoic,cold and completely unreadable.

"Isn't this interesting. It seems you've been here before. Its a rare case; To have a person with the potential to come here not once but twice. It must mean you really weren't satisfied with the second world you created."

"I've created two worlds?" Kirito repeated quietly. This whole situation was still confusing. His main attention was now drawn to the fact that the two mirrors reflected very different images of him.

"Regardless, You'll have to create another world. That is why your here. To do that, you must change some part of your past in your original life and to change a part of your past you must look into the grey mirror and decide what changes you want.

"Can't I just go back to my world and regain my memories." Kirito interrupted. "I don't like it here. Its empty..."

"You came here for a reason. You can't go back until you've fulfilled that reason."

"And how do I that?"

"By influencing the choices you make in your past. When the moment comes and you have a specific world you want to create; You must find an event, a juncture, a point where the metaphorical road splits. You'll see different paths. It is up to you to decide what path you are to take. When that happens you must whisper into your past self's subconscious mind and based on what you say to your past self it will walk the road you want it to.

"Whispering into my past self's mind actually spawns a new world?" Kirito asked skeptical.

"Why yes. Tell me have you ever heard of the concept of Parallel universes.

"You mean stuff like alternate dimensions."

Heathcliff nodded "For every decision or groups of decisions we make in our life time another world is born where the other choice is made. Every choice no matter how insignificant spawns a new world. Are you following me so far?"

"You've kind of lost me."

"Don't worry you'll understand soon enough. For now lets take a look into the mirror of your past and see what new world you've wanted to create. I also suggest you study the other two mirrors and see what is it about them that causes you to return here. If can learn from those maybe the third world you create will be the one you truly wished for.

A white table materialized in front Heathcliff and another golden chair appeared. The golden chair that appeared though seemed more like a throne then a chair as it was twice the size of Kirito's and sporting jewels of every variety. The large grey mirror shrunk into the size an average sized book and then slowly placed itself on the white table.

"Well then. Shall we begin?"

Kirito nodded pulling his seat closer to the mirror, his eyes gazing first his reflection and that reflection became something more the image on the mirror became distorted. It was like watching a T.V unscramble the distorted signal it was receiving. It took a couple of minutes before the image became clear.

What he saw in the mirror was another young man walking out of the school dressed in his summer uniform: A white button short sleeve shirt and dark pants. Kirito watched as this young man that was him and at the same time not him go and meet his friends...


	2. Path to Divergence 1

Path to Divergence 1

_Kirigaya Kazuto was dreaming. It was a recurring dream. A memory of the moment his life would change forever. It was a memory he always repressed. Within this dream he remembered images of a car crash, a bridge under the moon light and a battle the likes of which had never seen. In that dream he was in a wrecked car, the drivers and front passengers seat seating the bloodied bodies of two of his parents. Outside the car there were three mysterious figures. A boy a little older then him with silver hair, a mysterious blond girl who seemed to be a perfect beauty in the young man's mind and a monster that was composed of darkness. He was helpless in that dream, being unable to do anything but watch the scene unfold from the back seat. The silver haired boy was speaking to the the blond women. Kazuto couldn't hear what they were saying. However, after he was done speaking, the silver haired young boys eyes glowed, the blond girl turned its fully attention on the shadow monster. She extended her arm and the arm morphed into a gun. The gun was fired and the dream ended right then and there._

"Why don't we call on Kirigaya-kun!"

Kirigaya Kazuto woke up from the dream to find himself in a large class room with all of the students of that class staring at him with a rather expectant look. The teacher: a grey haired bespectacled man glared at him.

"Well Kiragaya-kun? Can you answer my question?" The grey haired teacher added in a clearly irritated by his young student."

For a moment it took Kazuto a moment to gather his wits. His vision still blurry, his body aching; He was careful not to yawn. He was also confused since he didn't hear the question that was posed to him. Lucky for him, the answer to said question came in the form of a a certain red head girl who is sitting behind him.  
"Psst Mount Olympus is the highest mountain." The red haired girl whispered.

Kazuto smiled as he gave the answer the red haired girl gave him. The teacher was slightly taken aback. Some of students were very surprised as well.

"It seems you were paying attention. Mister Kirigaya here is correct. Mount Olympus or Olympus mons is the highest mountain..."

As the teacher went on with his explanation. Kazuto turned to the red head, whispering as the teacher went on with his lecture.

"Yuzu you are a lifesaver!"

The red head girl known as Yuzu went red before quickly regaining her composure. Her expression became just as stern as the teachers though.

"I wouldn't need to help you out like that if you actually stayed awake."

"Sorry. Tell you what. Atsuro, Daisuke and I are heading over to Naoya's to pick up that new game and new Nerve Gear. On the way, I can buy you something to eat as a thank you. What do you say?"

Yuzu frowned in deep thought before shooting a smile at her friend. "Sounds good to me. No club meeting today so I'm free."

The dark haired teen nodded and turned back to the teacher taking in some notes. The rest of the school day past as it always had. Boring, peaceful and dull. Kazuto hated the monotony.

_After school_

It was warm and sunny out by the time the final bell rang and Kazuto along with Yuzu approached the gate. Awaiting them at the gate was Atsuro who wore a white hat and a blue jacket and Daisuke another teen blond hair, grey jacket, dark shirt and a blue and white stripe tie.

"Atsuro! Daisuke!" Kazuto waved at his two friends. Both of them smiled as he and Yuzu walked over to them.

"Yo Kazuto. Yuzu what's up." Daisuke called out as the two approached.

"Yuzu, here helped me out at class today. So I've got to get her buy her something at Hagakure. Do you mind if we get to Naoya's late? I know he'll still be busy putting the finishing touches to our nerve gear if we arrive now."

"That depends on Atsuro here. He really wants to sink his teeth on DAO. I'm a little eager to play it myself truth be told. I can wait though. Actually, I haven't even eaten lunch today. I'm really hungry. " The three turned their attention to the teen in the blue jacket looking at him expectantly. Atsuro in return let out a sigh.

"I've waited two years since that game and that new Nerve Gear was announced. I think I can wait a little longer." Atsuro conceded. The three let out cheers.

_Hagakure Ramen Shop_

"Here you go. two beef bowls, one chicken, and one vegetable." The chef said as he slid a bowl of ramen to each of his customers. "Enjoy."

The Ramen shop was a cozy little place that resembled a mixture of a cafe and an actually restaurant. It had a red motif going to it and it was a place where the four friends have always frequented whenever any of them had the time to get together.

"So what exactly is DAO?" Yuzu asked as she dug into her Vegetable Ramen. Atsuro gave his friend an exasperated look.

"All the times you've been hanging out with us and you still don't know? It's Devil Arts Online! A game created by Akahiko Kayaba. You know. The father of the new age of gaming. Inventor of the Nerve Gear. Creator of all sorts of other tech such as those augmented reality glasses. The Pioneer for the new age of technology." The young man gushed as he quoted what several of the technology magazines were saying about the inventor.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Yuzu replied in a sarcastic. manner "I suppose I should have come here ready with an encyclopedia of facts of a man that-"

"He's no man. Yuzu." Atsuro interrupted. His voice and expression deathly serious. "He is a God!"

A moment of silence fell on the group as Atsuro spoke those words; Kazuto and Daisuke then broke out into laughter. Yuzu simply rolled her eyes and Atsuro blushed and diverted his eyes to his own bowl of ramen.

"You should already know that Atsuro is a big Kayaba fan boy." Daisuke said finishing his laugh. "Second biggest would be Kazuto here." Kazuto shrugged as he slipped a piece of beef in his mouth and swallowed it.

"I'm planning to be a researcher and developer. I'm going to go to college for it. Of course I'd know a lot about the "Father of the Next Age of Technology"" Kazuto responded imitating Atsuro voice. Atsuro glared at him, Yuzu giggled but Daisuke let out a sigh at the mention of college.

"Don't remind me of college. Or anything related to the future for that matter. I still don't know what I plan to do after I finish school. I know I definitely don't want to be a salary man. "

"I'm surprised your not entering in the same field as these two. You love talking about games and Tech." Yuzu added.

"I'm more into playing games then making them. Just like I'm more interested in using tech like those new augmented reality specs. Learning how to make them seems like a pain in the ass. No offense you two." Daisuke added. The two other boys shrugged. Daisuke's expression grew even more tired. "Eugh! Why did you guys have to mention college. It brings back horrible memories of that awkward career talk I had with my Miss Mina"

"What happened? Yuzu asked "When I went to see Mina-sensei after you, she looked ultra pissed.".

"You really don't want to know." Daisuke responded in a warning tone. From the look hin his eyes Yuzu decided to drop the subject. The rest of the group continued on their meal, chatting idly about other things.

_Naoya's Apartment._

"Oh did you guys read Yosuke's text?" Daisuke spoke as they were getting closer and closer to Naoya's apartment.

"Oh yeah. He's going to be getting his motorcycle license in a couple of days" Kazuto responded. Yosuke was another friend of theirs that moved away last year. His father was a manager of Junes Department store and the company had transferred him over to a small town in Inaba. Though the group kept in contact with him through texts and emails. Kazuto was the one to seem him frequently. It helps that his uncle Dojima and cousin Nanako also live there and he and his his family would often take trips to Inaba during vacations to see them. Kazuto however suspected the main reason his Aunt Midori and Uncle Minetake were so eager to visit Inaba was because of the Amagi Inn hot springs and not to visit their cute cousin or gruff detective of an uncle. His sister Sugouha had different reason though. She had become close friends with the daughter and heiress of the inn and her friend that lived in town.

"When's he coming over to visit?" Atsuro asked curiously. "Seems a little unfair that Kazuto here is the only one that gets to see him often. The last time he was here was during golden week."

"He says he's been too busy helping out his family." Kazuto responded as he pushed the button on the speaker for Naoya. "Naoya. We're here. Can you let us in?" The door buzzed allowing Kazuto and rest of his friends to pull it open and go up his apartment. They took an elevator to the top floor where it was located. When it opened the group stepped out, and approached Naoya's door. The door opened and a women with dark short hair, yellow skirt, a black jacket, and long white boots stepped out. She looked furious. She also looked about ready to punch something. She turned to the opened door and spoke:

"Narukumi-san, Mister Hotsuin is not going to be happy with your decision. You don't know what he and the rest of the Hotsuin family can do to you."

"You act like I should be frightened of your organization. If they have done any research on me then they already know its actually the other way around Sako-san." The voice behind the door responded a casual tone. The words were a subtle threat as opposed to Sako-san's own blatant threat. Despite how he said it, Kazuto knew the man behind the voice long enough to know that he will act when threatened or attacked. "I've made my choice, the Hotsuin brat will have to deal with not getting what he wants for once." Sako glared at him.

"How dare you call Hotsuin-sama a..."

"Kazuto! You're finally here! Where were you?" The man interrupted the women named Sako and stepped out of his room. He had silver hair, red eyes and he was sporting a button down shirt and a cloak. Kazuto quickly beckoned the group to come to the apartment. As they complied and went in, he turned to the girl called Sako and spoke one last time

"Now. If you excuse me Sako-san. I have to catch up with my little brother. So leave now and make sure your brat of a boss understands that my mind is made up." The dark haired women glared at him and turned around to leave.

Naoya's apartment was messy. Inside was a lot junk consisting on machines and devices he had been working on. The things that caught Kazuto's eyes though were a silver armband with a small scren and a cell phone that looked about ten years old though. It appeared Naoya was in the process of modifying them.

"Do any of you want tea?" Naoya called from the kitchen. The group nodded in unison as he went to the kitchen to boil some water.

"So what was that all about?" Atsuro asked as he assumed a seat on the couch.

"Just a representative from another company complaining about my not giving the rights use a new application I created."

"Why didn't you?"

"Lets just say that they would be using the application for some things less then noble." Naoya winked as he poured tea in all of their cups. He assumed a seat next to Kazuto, taking a sip form his own cup. "So have you thought about my offer?"

"What offer?" Yuzu and Atsuro asked in unison. Kazuto sighed. He has had this conversation one to many times. He wished Naoya would give him more time to mull it over.

"I'm offering my brother here a free ticket into MIT. Fully paid scholarship plus flight. Maybe you three can convince him. He's been hesitant."

"Why are you hesitating?" Atsuro asked giving his friend a wide I look. "A free ride into university? A trip overseas. I thought you'd be jumping at the chance for it. Hell. I would?" Kazuto shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Naoya laughed. Yuzu however, remained silent though. She looked slightly depressed.

"Even if you get into to Tokyo U, I doubt they'll be able to give you the same resources you can get over the states." His brother added. Kazuto was unusually focused on the tea while he was speaking.

"It's a nice offer. But I prefer to to stay in Japan if possible..." Kazuto quietly replied.

"Come on bro..."

"Lets talk about this later. I'd like to see that new nerve gear. If possible." Yuzu spoke up, a forced smile plastered on her face. Daisuke, who was sitting next to her looked at her bewildered.

"Hey! I thought you were even interested in playing video ga-" Yuzu shoved her elbow against Daisuke. "Ouch what that was that for?!"

Naoya gave Yuzu a rather knowing look before standing up "Well that is why you three came up here. Wait here. I have it at the workroom." While Naoya was getting their equipment, Kazuto looked at his own drink, wearing a frown.

"I'm surprised." Daisuke spoke up. "You talk a lot about how the Americans are always developing all sorts of new toys. You even said that you plan to study there for a semester."

"I'm excited. Don't get me wrong. The thing is though. " Kazuto paused trying to find the right words to say. " Naoya seems a little too eager to send me overseas. Just last year, he keeps saying that I should move in with him. Saying that brothers should stick together. Now though. He really wants me out of the country."

"What about your aunt and uncle." Yuzu inquired, a look of concern on her face. "They're his family too."

"He never really got along with them. Especially Aunt Midori. They've always been getting into arguments. Those got especially bad when he was still living with us." Kazuto replied, his eyes now looking over at the window. "He's always been hiding something from me. I didn't mind because well, I've always trusted him. He's always looked out for me. After he moved out and got a job, he goes to the trouble of hanging out with me on his free time. Even when he's tired from work. Now though, I just wonder." He trailed off.

"What happened?"

"He's been acting really strange. Well. Stranger then usual. He hasn't called me in the past weeks and if he doesn't normally texts me a response when he's too busy to return my calls. Whenever we do go out, he gets really agitated for no reason." Before he could continue Naoya called out:

"Here we go!" Naoya called out. In arms were three small boxes. "Three next generation nerve gears special ordered from Argus."

"Awesome!" All three boys cheered. As Naoya handed each of them a box with their Nerve Gear.

"Wonder what they changed from the Beta test..." Kazuto commented as he was looking over his own box.

"Might have modified one or two bosses to better balance out the battles." Naoya shrugged as he assumed a seat on his reclining chair yawning. "I didn't have chance to look over the final game. Kayaba-san wanted to oversee last phase by himself."

"Can't believe you get to work with the legend himself." Atsuro added.

"Not as great as many make him out to be." Naoya replied stretching out his arms. "You know what they say about meeting your idols. I don't recommend it." Atsuro scoffed. Naoya chuckled. A chuckle which was followed by a beeping noise. His hands reached into his pocket and he pulled out his cellphone. He frowned at the sight of the screen.

"Hello..." Naoya said. " Yes. Hmm. Alright, I'll meet you soon." He stood up and turned to his four friends. "Afraid Atsuro's god needs me..."

"Hey!"

"I need to check up on the servers. I'm afraid I'll have to cut your visit short." The four students nodded and got up to leave. "Oh Kazuto. Can I talk to you quickly?" Kazuto turned to the three.

"I'll meet you guys outside." Yuzu, Atsuro, and Daisuke nodded and left. With the two brothers alone, Naoya was the first to speak

"Listen. I'm sorry for how I've been lately."

"Take it you overheard us?" Kazuto said.

"Got another job with a security company. They've been having me develop new cameras. Been setting up some camera's around here as a test run. Those test cameras are currently streaming to my monitors in the work room when I was there to retrieve the nerve gears. They're always on. Its a little hard not to catch your conversation. I'm sorry."

"Its okay. Since the cat is out of the bag, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Naoya hesitated. Kazuto found it a little strange. Naoya wasn't always one to hesitate when he had something on his mind to say. This time was completely different. He was actually considering his words carefully. After long pause, Naoya finally spoke.

"Its about the night our parents died." Images of the dream appeared in Kazuto's mind. " I know it's a touchy subject but-" His cellphone rang again. Naoya glared at it. "Listen I have to get to the office, and what I have to tell you will take far more then five minutes anyway. Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about it."

"Alright, see you around." Kazuto said. He wanted to press further but it looked like Naoya couldn't be interrupted.

_Kirigaya Household_

"I'm home." Kazuto called out as he stepped into the house. He knew Suguha was still at Kendo practice and his aunt always came home a little bit late. His uncle; Unusually enough. Wasn't at home. The reason came in the form of a note on the fridge.

_Kazu-kun. Suguha-chan. Got called into a meeting. Be back by elven.-Papa_

_Seems like everybody has an urgent meeting today._ Kazuto thought as he looked through the fridge. _Maybe I should go to the store before I log in._ His eyes trailed over to the clock. It was Six at night. It was still sunny out and he had a enough time to get to the store and back before it went completely dark. Of course, he could log out later and get something to eat but there had been reported serial killings by a cult that attacks at night and his aunt and uncle made absolute sure he and his sister stayed in at night. A cult called the Order of Gaia if Kazuto remembered from the news reports. Still, he was torn. He did promise Atsuro and Daisuke that he'd meet both of them online right now. He didn't really want to be late. After much deliberation, Kazuto finally made a decision. He took the box to his room and removed the helmet.

"Please fill in your information to create an account." The robotic female voice called as Kazuto entered the empty black space that is the VR interface. Text appeared in the middle of the air, as well as a keyboard at the bottom of the text. The text itself showed all the relevant information Kazuto had fill in. The process was tedious but after entering the last bit of info and customizing his avatar he finished the entire process by entering his screen name: Kirito.


	3. Path To Divergence 2

"Welcome to Devil Arts Online." The robotic voice called out. "Enjoy your stay." A flash of light and Kazuto now called Kirito in this virtual world soon found himself in a medieval looking city far bigger then anything he had ever seen. Heck, it was far bigger then any city that was possibly out there in the real world. Its architecture gothic. It was crowded and bustling with both players and NPC's alike and the sun looked to be rising as opposed to the setting sun in the real world. He could feel the virtual suns warmth. He savored the warmth like he savored the way the wind blew passed his long hair. Before he could take a step, he heard a chiming noise. Kirito smiled as he opened the menu and read his very first message in game.

Add me to your friends list and meet us at the fountain.-At-9.

_Main Square._

The main square was loaded with players standing around. Either talking or sifting through their equipment on their menus. Kirito's own eyes were sifting through the hundreds of players looking for At-9. When he was scanning around the fountain, he finally found who he was looking for when he spotted a green tag on top an adult male, wearing leather armor and equipment. Right next to him was another older male, red hair and a beard. The green tagged male waved Kirito over.

"At-9 and Klein?" Kirito said looking over at the others red head

screen name confused. Daisuke had always used Daikon as a screen name It was a little strange that he'd choose something else. At-9 shook his head.

"Daikon says he's going to log in later. His relatives are visiting right now and he's having dinner with them. This here is Klein. He's completely new. First time with nerve gear actually. Thought I'd help him out. We'll be going outside to level up a bit. Let him get a feel for combat." Kirito smiled and offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you Klein. I'm Kirito." Klein returned the smile and shook his hand.

"Kirito. Its great to meet you too. At-9 tells me you were also a beta tester for the game?"

"That's true." Kirito commented as he took a seat on the fountain. "And since we have time before Daikon logs on, I think I can also show you a few tricks I've learned" At-9 perked up at that.

"Where do we start then?"

"There's a nice a little private spot we can train. Lets start there." Atsuro nodded and the trio left the city.

_Outside Starting City_

"Alright. To activate your sword skills just hold your weapon like so, and let the auto assist activate." At-9 commented. The trio were fighting six frenzy boars. Monsters which were basically bestial versions of real boars. It has red eyes, horns, and an aggressiveness which would give any newbie pause. As Klein was having a trouble hold off even one boar. Kirito and At-9 were easily able to dispatch the other five with incredible ease.

"Damn, I don't know what Naoya or Kayaba did but the feel of this world is even more immersive then the beta." Atsuro commented as he swung his short sword to finish off his second boar. Kirito nodded before performed a whirl wind sword skill which finished off two of the boars, cleaving their heads clean off their bodies.

"The bodies don't even disappear anymore after you kill them. I can literally smell the blood from my sword." Kirito replied, his eyes scanning his weapon.

"Um guys can you help me here!" a panicked voice yelled out from behind them. The pair of friends turned to watch their red headed newbie run for his life from two other boars.

"Come on Klein focus!" Kirito called out. He chased one of the predators trying to attack his new friend and buried his blade his blade in its spine. Klein managed to put distance between himself and the monster. Getting into to an attack position, he raised his blade at the right angle and then...

"THERE!" Klein bellowed out. His sword began to glow, the auto assist activated. _Slant! h_is mind screamed out. A simple slash broke through the boars spiritual barrier. Once the barrier shattered, half the boars body was severed its guts spilling on the the emerald field.

"Nice one." At-9 complimented. He walked over to Kleins kill observing it. "Damn, they really went out of their way with the physics engine for this world. The Boar's guts smell awful." He took his own sword and poked at its flesh. Klein however was yelling out and throwing his arms out in celebration of his first kill.

"Yeah, I was really skeptical when they removed HP and MP by replacing both with the spiritual power. Not exactly RPG like, but its really been fun and challenging" Kirito said joining his friend. In a move to add a different kind of depth to the game, the concept of leveling up has been dramatically altered for Devil Arts Online. Players and monsters instead get spiritual power or SP for short. SP is a means to summon devil or demons and to cast spells to attack. It also acts as a way of protecting the player from attacks by placing an barrier around the player called spiritual aura which is called SA for short. The Spiritual Aura is tied to the players SP. If the Aura is attacked in any way SP would go down preventing the player from casting any more effective spells and forcing them to hide or find a safe place and wait for it to recharge. If the Aura is damaged with enough force, Aura can break and cause the player an internal injury. Interestingly, a player can even release their SA allowing them a hundred percent access to their SP however doing so lands the risk of actually getting killed by monsters. When the Aura is not around, players can actually receive the same amount of injuries as one would get in the real world. Cuts ,bruises, even broken bones to the player require a realistic amount of time to heal. Of course, to save time on recovering from such injuries, the healing spells in game heal such injuries instantly. However, paying to get healed in game is actually expensive in the earlier floors and learning the spells can be a chore.

To learn any sort of magic in game, the player has to either do a quest chain in the magic school on the floor or contract a Demon which knows healing and get the demon to teach them. Doing quests in a Magic School requires the player to go an several missions that go from collecting items to killing a certain set of monsters. These fetch and kill quests may take hours, sometimes even days to complete and unfortunately the reward for theses quests is random and most of the time players don't even receive the spells they want. Though the process of contracting a demon is tedious yet easy. Getting them to teach a player something they know is even harder as its diffuclty and amount of time is dependent on the the demons class and species. Getting any offensive magic is easy from any demon geared for battle. However support or healing demons are always they hardest to talk to.

The dead boars smell was starting to get to Kirito. At-9 agreed as he stepped away from the beasts corpse.

"How do we level SP up?" Klein asked, sheathing his sword. He waved his hand out and pulled up his menu, checking his Characters stat sheet. "I don't really see anything on my status menu indicating the number."

"You can level it up by either contracting demons, absorbing demons SP when you kill them, or repeated use of your spiritual energy. All of them actually have down sides. Your actually treated differently by NPC's depending on what demons are contracted to you. If you contract the wrong demon an NPC may either charge you a higher amount of money or a town guard would end up attacking you on sight. Of course it could work both ways. If you contract the right demon you can get discounts on items or even a free gift. NPC's can also assist you in battle directly by either offering support or fight along side you.

A bell sound could from Kleins arm gauntlet. Klein looked confused, however the two beta testers looked curious.

"Hey. What's that?" Klein asked as he was looking at the guantlet..

"Speak of the devil, You've attracted a demon to the area." Kirito responded. "See that screen, on your gauntlet tap on it and it should show you where its at." Klein responded with an excited squeak.

"The demon taming feature! I finally get to use it!" Klein turned to the other two. "Since you two did help I suppose you should get first crack it." The two other players shook their head.

"The demon wants to test you alone and depending on how well you perform you can recruit it. Kirito responded. "Besides Tame stealing his hard. Not to mention as beta-testers we both get a free demon already at the start of the game." As to demonstrated he tapped his metal gauntlet and called out "Sparna!" A giant bird appeared with yellow feather and blue feathers materialized next to him. Klein looked in at awe as it flew up into the sky and circled the the trio.

"Damn I wanted Sparna." At-9 responded, his head pointed up skywards, looking at the circling demon."Well guess I'll have to settle with..." He tapped his arm pad and a tall horse like creature with two horns appeared right next to his him."

"Bicorn is still pretty good." Kirito responded scanning the demon up and down.

"Yeah but I wanted to get something I can fly."

"You'll still be able to cover more ground easily when you explore. I have to reach a certain level with Sparna before I can use her as a mount. Bicorn already comes with the mount feature." The bell whistling can be heard again, prompting Kirito to turn to Klein. "Well then lets get you started. Klein your gauntlet should have compass that we'll guide you to a demon." Klein nodded, and tapped on his gauntlet. A holographic compass appeared right over the COMP. The letter N glowed indicating the direction of the demon.

The demon's location was only a few feet away in another clearing.

"Look over there." Atsuro called out. The demon's appearance is a giant pumpkin head with a blue cape and a pointed hat. It was carrying a lamp. Kirito looked at his own COMP and scanned the demon.

"Pyro Jack. This ones pretty good." Kirito commented. "Simple to tame, and it comes with a decent set of fire skills and debuffs. Which is good until you reach one of the floors which heavily ues ice creatures. Now to talk to the demon, set your gauntlet to recruit mode." Klein did so and a green light surrounded the new player. "Good, this will show the demon your here to talk."

"What do I then?" Klein asked.

"It will ask you to either give it items such Macca or life stones, ask you to duel it; Which to be honest is rare this early in game or you can debate with it."

"Um Debate?"Klein replied looking bewildered

"Demons will get into a debate about order vs chaos. You know the primary theme this game's story line gets into. Certain demon clans are either for one side or the other. They may fall somewhere in between. You'll be able to get a feel for what side a demons on once you speak to it. The game manuals calls it a debate but really it just means agreeing with the demon on its views of order and chaos." Klein nodded, turned around and went to the Pyro Jack. The Pyro Jack in return approached Klein. The pair began speaking to each other.

"Why didn't you tell him what happens if he fails the debate?" At-9 whispered into Kirito's ear.

"No need to, the first floor is forgiving to all newbies."

"Those Frenzy boars weren't."

"The system tailors encounters to a party. It probably detected the fact that we were beta-testers, and ramped up the difficulty."

The process was long and tedious for Klein. The pair watched several times as Klein face when between confusion and frustration as he either gave the demon items or health or answering a question which elicited an irritated wave from the demon. Before they knew it the Pyro Jack he was talking to vanished, turning into glowing crimson dust. That crimson dust entered Kleins gauntlet.

"Congrats!" At-9 replied as Klein approached. The red head gave them the widest of grins.

"My first demon. This is great." Another chiming sound could be heard from Klein. This time it wasn't coming from his gauntlet. "Hold on let me get this." Klein opened the players menu. "Looks like my buddies logged in but..." He grimaced. "I have to log out. My pizza should be arriving at any moment. We'll its been great seeing you both. We should actually form a party again sometime." The pair nodded as they each spoke their own good byes and went to approach the town "Wait a minute. Somethings weird..."

"What is it?" Kirito asked, turning around walking towards Klein.

"This is a really strange thing to say but I can't find my log out button."

"Let me see. It should be there." Kirito pulled up his own menu, and tapped on the player options. "That is weird. Let me check the settings. Maybe I can..." At-9 copied Kirito as he pulled up his own menu, sifting through the settings as well. Klein tried a different alternative by making a motion resembling removing a helmet.

"Not going to work." Kirito said watching Klein. "Nerve Gear stops motor functions. When you use it, intercepts an signals your brain sends to the body and vice versa."

"We should find a GM and find out what's going on?" At-9 said. He frowned as attempted to send a message. "Damn it. The GM's not responding."

The three were left to ponder on this dilemma before something else happened. In an instant Kirito felt his vision blur and watched as the area around him slowly vanished. The last thing he saw was At-9 and Klein being enveloped by a blue light. The next thing he knew he was the square of the fountain in the Town of beginnings again along with AT-9 and Klein. From where he was, the square was packed and dense. More people teleported in. More confusion filled the atmosphere as the trio and the rest of the crowd were all wondering the same thing. Why were they teleported there.

The answer to this mystery would come in the form of a gigantic floating red cloaked man materializing high up in the crimson sky.

"Hell of an entrance." At-9 commented as the crowd grew silent. The figure raised its arms to silence any left over people speaking

"My name is Kayabe Akahiko. As creator of Devil Arts Online, I'd like you to personally welcome you to my world. By now, most of you have noticed that there is no log out button on your menu. This is no bug or glitch. All of you are now trapped here in this world. Anybody trying to disconnect your from the outside world will kill you accidentally. The Nerve Gear your using comes equipped with Transceivers that can send bursts of microwaves to the brain if there is any attempt to shut off or remove the nerve gear." He paused to let the information get in before continuing on " "Thanks to a new breakthrough I have had in programming this world; Your avatars will now require sleep, food, and water in order to function in this world properly and survive. Not only that, but as of now I have removed the pain limiters from your gear. You'll actually feel your avatar's hunger and thirst if you don't eat or drink. You'll even feel fatigue if you don't rest. Your virtual body will also feel fatigue if you preform combat or any other sort of physical activity. This is to add an element of realism to the world. To draw you, the guest into a once in a like time experience. One more thing, if you are killed in this world, the transmitters will also fry your brain." Confusion began to grow as people began to whisper to each other, trying to make sense of it all. The red reaper that is Kayaba continued on though. "213 players have already died because their friends or relatives have tried to remove their nerve gears. By now the news has caught wind of what happened." To demonstrate, several screens materialized all around Kayaba. Kirito could see that they were screens of news channels broadcasting this 'abduction'. "I have given them permission to allow all your body's to be moved to a hospital so it can be sustained during your stay here. Most; if not all of you will be in hibernation mode when this happens." He paused let the gravity of the situation the players have found themselves sink in. "The only way to leave Aincrad is to fight your way through the hundred floors of this world and defeat beast which lies on top. If you can beat this challenge I pose to you then I will allow all of you to log out." The screens of the news shut off and a model of Aincrad appeared right before the group of players. "Now some of you wonder why I have done all of this. The answers is that I have always wanted to hold dominion over the world by watching, nurturing, and evolving it. In order to advance the world I require help from you, the players. Every sacrifice, action and moment you have here contributes to the evolution of this world. This world will fully mature once all of you together attain the power to reach and survive the end. That being said I would like to wish you all good luck. May fortune guide you." The red reaper raised its arms once more. "Before I leave now I think it best that I do one more thing to help with you growth and progression into this world. In your inventory you should have a mirror. Look into it." Kirito, accessed his inventory pulled out his mirror. For a moment it showed him the reflection of his avatar. White light began to envelope him and all the players in the square. He was blinded for a moment.

"Wait... Kazuto?" Kirito turned around, and looked at the source of the voice. His widened in surprise.

"Atsuro? What's going on?" Kirito replied. No longer did At-9 have the face of an older bearded male. It was now Atsuro looking exactly the same as he did in the real world. He looked around where Klein was supposed to be. Instead of the strong super model of an person, the real Klein is a skinny man with a red beard and a lean yet tired looking face.

"That's really you Klein?"

"Your name is Kazuto?"

After the true faces of a players were revealed Kayaba vanished letting the shock sink into the now trapped players. It was silent. The silence became whispers, then mutters, then screams. Panic pierced the air. There was going to be riot in the square and the few that have expected it such as Kirito, At-9 and Klein slipped away unnoticed.

_Back Alley_

"Damn it!" At-9 yelled as he slammed his fist to a wall. "I... I actually believed in him. I actually wanted to be like him!"

"You shouldn't meet your role models." Kirito spoke with a bitter smile. "At least we're not alone. We can pull through this together." The pair nodded, sharing same the same sentiment: determination. Klein however looked worried as he stared at the entrance of the square. "What's the matter?"

"My buddies, the ones I told you about. I think I saw them back there."

"Then you should get to them." Kirito responded. "Actually, we should start forming a guild with them and us as members as soon as possible. We should also find and hunt for demons to contract." At-9 frowned. Kirito noticed. "What?"

"Did Naoya know about this? I know he's mainly worked on the programming. But I thought he'd have a good look at the nerve gear. Get a sense of how dangerous it is." Before Kirito could answer another beeping noise could be heard. He had a message. At-9 had one too as they both pulled up their menu. Both of them looked at the other confusedly. "It's from Naoya."

Meet me at North Field.- Naoya

"Naoya? I thought he didn't want to play this game." At-9 asked confused

"Maybe he changed his mind? Either way we do have to meet up with him. Pull together if want to survive this game" Kirito responded. Looking over the message.

"What's going on?" Klein asked "And who's Naoya?"

"He's my brother and he's one of the programmers for DAO"

"Really?" Klein asked. "Do you think you can get him break us out?" Kirito shook his head.

"If he's here I highly doubt he'd be in any position to break us out." Klein looked crest fallen.

"Regardless we do have to meet him." At-9 interjected "Maybe he could give us ideas on how to survive."

"Can you two go meet him then while I go and find my friends. They look helpless without me." Klein replied. Kirito and At-9 nodded. "We'll get a guild up and running once we're together. I've run guilds the past before in other games. It should be no problem." At-9 frowned.

"I think Kirito and I should be the ones to run the guild seeing as we have more experience playing DAO."

"My friends will trust me more then two strangers."

"You'll be more likely to survive if you follow one of us..." At-9 shot back irritably.

"We'll settle on who is guild leader after we gather everyone up." Kirito spoke. At-9 and Klein nodded grudgingly and soon went their own ways.

_Outside The Town of Beginnings: North Field._

"He said to meet us here." At-9 spoke as he looked around. Kirito shrugged.

"Maybe he's running late?" Kirito pondered looking around. There was nothing but another green field filled with Frenzy boars.

"I never run late" A voice called out behind them. Kirito and AT-9 turned around at the sound of the voice. It was Naoya. Still dressed in his same cloak with a button shirt. He was smiling. Kirito could tell it was forced and fake though. "How've you been Bro?"

"Naoya. How come your wearing that in here and not the starting gear. Do you get special privileges as a progammer" The younger brother asked approaching him.

"That's because I'm technically not a player. I've managed to hack into the servers with my own Nerve Gear and created an avatar which convinces the Cardinal system that I am ghost."

"Can you get us out?"

"I'm sorry." Naoya responded, his smile faltering. "I can't." The two players gave their mentor a confused look "Whatever defenses he's placed on the system; They are far more complex then anything I can come up with. There is a reason why he's hailed as the the greatest inventor of this century"

"So what can you do?"

"I can give you information on any of the upcoming floors. As well as hand you keys to a dungeon which like my avatar doesn't technically exist. "

"Dungeon?"

"Darwin's Path"

"Never heard of it."

"Not surprised. It was scrapped shortly before the beta. But within it lies the key to ending this game quickly." Naoya paused as his avatar began blinking in and out of existence frantically. "Hold on." Naoya stood there frozen. Five minutes later and his avatar stabilized. He spoke again. "Cardinal is quickly catching on to me. I'll try to be quick. As for the dungeon: some of the other the designers ended up creating a set of bonus dungeons and with the completion of those bonus dungeons they had a reward. That reward was a power which allowed the user unlimited spiritual energy and enhanced stength. In order to attain this power though, the players would have to clear a set of dungeons on the different floors collectively called Darwin's Path. Since the power was such a game breaker, we decided to get rid of it and the dungeon for the beta and full game. We were short on time though. It would take a while to delete that much code. So instead of out right removing this code, we just simply gathered all the scattered dungeons merged them into one large fortress, created a barrier to block any entry into the dungeon, turn it invisible and placed it under a lake no player is likely to go to on the tenth floor."

"I take it you have a way for us to access it then..."

Naoya nodded. He extended his palm out. Pearls of blue light materialized taking the shape of two small rectangles. "I've programed these keys in order for you to gain access to that dungeon. Be warned though, that the monsters and demons there are far stronger then you can imagine. You'll have to train your spiritual power up in order to effectively survive there."

"Is there any way you can jump start our spiritual power?" At-9 asked

"I'm afraid not. As far as altering in-game rules and protocols. Its virtually impossible to alter. Any attempt I make at will be blocked by Cardinal. If the system discovers me I will be locked out."

"It the best we have." At-9 replied. "I'm surprised though. When your looking at the nerve gear didn't something strike you as odd. You've had to have known the transmitters could be dangerous if something went wrong. Hell, You've beaten it into our heads that we should always check for any defects whenever we buy or get any new hard ware ourselves"

"You mean. did I know that the nerve gear could be used to trap ten thousand people in a virtual world and force them into a death game. I'm sorry I wasn't looking for that when I was more or less tasked with programming the game. Its hardware others use anyway. Nothing to do with software I program" Naoya gave a sarcastic smile. At-9 glared the moment he saw that smirk.

"That smile..."

"What about it?"

"Can we get back on topic you two?" Kirito raised his voice. "I don't know what's gotten into you Atsuro, but Naoya has helped us a lot so far." At-9 quickly regained what little composure he lost opting to let Nayoa speak. Naoya in turn decide to ignore the outburst and continued "One more thing, I suggest you keep the existence of this dungeon between yourselves. If possible I only want the two of you to be the ones to clear it and gain that power."

"If its as complex as you said then we're going to need all the help we can get." Naoya shook his head.

"And if Kayaba finds out about that dungeon through the other players what do you think he'll do with the power that sleeps within inside that lake. Especially if its a power that ends his little game early."

"Then wouldn't it be better if we just went along with the game and formed our own guild? We'd have a higher chance of surviving." At-9 asked. Kirito frowned however. Naoya gave him another one his all knowing looks.

"And more players would end up dying." Kirito added. "More time spent here can also mean more chances for players to die."

"But we'd take an even greater risk to ourselves trying tackle a dungeon with just the two of us"

"I'm willing to take that risk if it means saving as many people as possible." Silence greeted those words as At-9 stared at him with a flabbergasted look. Naoya expecting this let out a quiet chuckle.

"Always the kind one." Naoya commented. His face became pained in an insane before reverting back to his mysterious smile. Ever since they were young Kazuto had always had an extraordinary desire to help others. His older brother found it hard to deal with most of the time. Naoya never really could understand how Kazuto possessed such a nature.

"Over ten thousand people suffering. I can't forgive myself if I turn back on a chance to save more lives." Kirito said, with a look of determination.

"Figures" At-9 replied with an exasperated sigh. "Some day that attitude of yours is going to get you in trouble. Your actually lucky it hasn't happened yet. I wonder though, where do you get that weird need to help others."

Kirito shifted uncomfortably. Part of him still remembered that dream he had every night. What he remembered most was how helpless he felt. How he couldn't help the silver haired boy in his dream. He never wanted to feel that way again.

"How is Aunt Midori and Suguha?" Kirito asked changing the subject

"I haven't seen them. The moment I've heard what happened, I placed all the effort I had into tracking and finding you." Naoya responded.

"I know how you feel about Aunt Midori and the rest but you should really go see them."

"You do know they'll blame me for your kidnapping, Especially Aunt Midori."

"She'll be upset and angry. She won't be angry at you. She always worried about us. "

"She worries about you you mean. She hates me."

"Not true." Kirito replied insistently. "Whenever we hang out and I get home afterwards she always asks about how have you been. How your life is. Despite all that's happened between you two while you were living with us, I know she still cares. So could you at least visit her and the others for me."

"That's awfully sneaky of you. Using your kidnapping to get us to talk again." Naoya grinned. Kazuto ignored him.

"Promise me."

"Fine I promise." Naoya caved in. So long as it was in his power he'd always help out Kazuto. Even if it meant interacting with two people he's always resented. "But back on the topic. My brother here wants to go inside, but I know needs your help to do it Atsuro."

"What he needs is time to think this over." At-9 snapped back. "This is heavy task and in case you haven't noticed. I'm not eager to rush to my own death." He turned to Kirito. "Come on man, give it some thought. All this is a lot to take in. Plus once, you die you won't be able to help anyone."

Kirito looked between Nayoa and At-9 and Naoya again, his mind working furiously. He wanted to save them all. However, At-9 had a point. He would be no good to anyone dead.

"Fine." He sighed "I'll consider it. It's ten floors to that lake anyway. Plenty of time to give it some thought."

_Entrance to Town of Beginnings_

At-9 and Kirito soon made there way back to the Town of Beginnings. Naoya had leave because the Cardinal system was about to detect them. It seems that the panic has calmed since Kayaba's announcement. The air was still full of tension. People were now in the process of adjusting to this crisis they were thrown in.

"I don't like it." At-9 said at once, facing Kirito.

"I know you don't " Kirito responded. "None of us like being trapped here."

"Not That." At-9 stated "It's about Naoya"

"What about him?"

"I know he's your brother and of course I know you trust him implicitly but you said it yourself. He's always been keeping secrets from you. I think he's keeping a secret from you now."

"What makes you say that?" Kirito frowned.

"It's that smile he had."

"What about it?"

"You remember those little tests Naoya always gives us. Back when we first got started in programming and building computers. When he used to do things like hack into our phones and lock it down, and we'd have to hack into it ourselves and restore it or that time he programmed an impossible boss in any rpg we've been playing and it would only be possible to beat without cracking into the game and changing the program back it its original state?"

"Things did get interesting when he gave us his quizzes.." Kirito replied, wandering where this was going.

"He's always had this smile. Oh we all know how he just loves to smile all the time. But there was always this particular smirk that that always irritates me. Like he's dangling an answer above our heads. I've learned look for that smile so I could get a head start on his pop quiz. He had that smile now while we were talking to him."

"You think his testing us?"

"Its just a feeling I had."

"Why would he test us then?"

"I don't know." At-9 sighed. "Look I've got your back on whatever you want to do. But I'm just telling you from another point of view that there is something more to this death game and that Naoya knows more then he lets on.

"I understand" Kirito said frowning in thought. "Something to think about then while we're stuck here"

"One of many things to think about actually." At-9 replied tiredly as the innkeeper gave them the key to their room.

_Inside Kirito and At-9's room_

The room was a simple room. With Mahogany floors and feather white beds. Removing his sword and sheath and placing it to the side, Kirito collapsed on the bed yawning.

"That conversation with him took a while. We didn't even get to meet Klein and his friends."

"I sent a message to him apologizing about it. Told him we had a lot of things to talk about with Naoya. Didn't tell him the specifics of course." Kirito nodded.

"We'll be meeting up with him tomorrow anyway. Hopefully get this guild started."At-9 replied taking a the other bed."

"You know, with all things considered, I'm kind of looking forward to playing the game. I have mixed feelings of course. Being trapped here a big one" Kirito added.

"I know what you mean. I'm frightened with the worst outcome but part of me is excited too. I've been looking forward to this game for two years. Like a dream come true. Well a dream turned nightmare" At-9 added with sadly. He yawned "I wonder if we can actually dream in this world."

"I hope not..." Kirito added quietly. He would say more but At-9 went out like a night. Kirito chuckled. It had been a very long day for both of them. Kirito joined him wandering if he can even have that nightmare in this dream world conceived by a madman.

The nightmare never came while he slept. Kirito would wake up in the morning and realize this. For the first time since that car accident. He hasn't dreamed of the silver haired boy and the doll like girl. Or the shadow beast that reeked of death. Maybe because he was already in a nightmare.


End file.
